Best free software for lossless light editing of AVI files?

[InMaster]

Somebody in my family ripped some old VHS tapes to AVI files before tossing the tapes. They didn't do any clean up, such as trimming the ends, for example, and I'd like to losslessly do that.

I believe most any free NLE software would work, if I'm not mistaken. OpenShot, ShotCut, Kdenlive, DaVinci Resolve --- any of those to particularly avoid? or to go for?

Thanks!

[Sharc]

Try Avidemux, VirtualDub2

[poisondeathray]

What type of "AVI" ? (What video compression used ?)

I believe most any free NLE software would work, if I'm not mistaken. OpenShot, ShotCut, Kdenlive, DaVinci Resolve --- any of those to particularly avoid? or to go for?

Avoid those NLE's for this task because they do not "stream copy" most types of "AVI" video . Most types of "AVI" get decoded/decompressed and re-encoded by those NLE's. This means quality loss if your original AVI used lossy compression. And if you used lossless compression or uncompressed, it means it will be slower to process.

vdub2 is a good choice for AVI

[InMaster]

Dunno what video compression was used for these but they are huge, as in 20-30GB each.

VirtualDub2 it is --- thank you for the info, friends.

[poisondeathray]

You can use mediainfo (view=>text) for more info on the codec /compression used. It's important because it might limit you to specific frames where you can cut ("keyframes") . If it's an I-frame only (keyframe only) format, you are not limited - you can cut "anywhere" .

To set stream copy, make sure you have video=>direct stream copy , and audio=>direct stream copy selected

[Cornucopia]

Huge? All depends on the duration, and your expectations.

30GB for 2 hours is ~35Mbps. Standard SD DV is 25Mbps (more when you add container and Type2), so not so unusual.

Scott

[Lord Rakim]

I'd try LosslessCut....

[Ayaa]

Similar to LosslessCut is:

SharpCut - https://bagno.jp/software.html

[eximi]

Can you go forward / back 1 frame on Sharpcut? Commonly with editors it's simply a matter of pressing left or right key, but this does nothing.
Mouse wheel does something similar but doesn't seem accurate for precise editing.